Personality:Otonashi is an extremely kind and caring man, to both those dear to him and even to strangers. He strives to help everyone, as he finds it to basically be his purpose in life. For the duration of the time his sister was hospitalized with cancer, he bought magazines for her with the little money he had so she would have something to do. That also shows how he’s rather selfless as well. While the survivors from the train accident were stuck underground, he took up the responsibility to make sure that everyone could live as long as possible, despite the fact that a number of them had doubts in him. While in the afterlife, he always freaked out and had at least some hesitation over people dying even though they didn’t actually die. Since, you know… they were already dead, anyway.

His friendliness helps him gain many friends quickly. The entire SSS group was excited to hear when he finally decided to team up with them and fight against Angel, as opposed to their reaction to Yui joining them which was rather… unenthusiastic and iffy. Hinata especially came to like Otonashi, to the point where the latter would constantly make fun of the former and question his sexuality, often asking if he was sure that he wasn’t gay for him. Naoi, whom Otonashi parents over in a way (often telling him when he shouldn’t be doing something, like using his hypnosis on Hinata), also came to appreciate Otonashi and even goes out of his way to make sure that he never offends him. Whenever he would make fun of someone, he’d add, “But not you of course, Otonashi!” Just as he cares for everyone, everyone cares for him. It really rubs off on them.

Upon looking at the members of the SSS, one would imagine that Otonashi was just like them; not the most mannered and responsible people and quite “moronic,” as many of the members refer to themselves as. However, he’s actually quite the opposite. He’s the most mannered and responsible in the group, thinking about his actions before actually doing them. During his arrival in the afterlife, Yuri straight up tells him that their enemy was Kanade—or Angel, as they knew her as at the time. Before even considering thinking of her as an adversary, he goes on down to let her know how the others look at her. Of course, this meeting resulted in her stabbing him dead in the chest. Even then, he was still rather cautious about fighting against her. It just didn’t seem right to him. In addition to that, he found the fact that the group was invading Kanade’s room and going through her computer to be rude.

Piggybacking on that, Otonashi happens to get flustered over awkward situations like that. Despite the fact that they were trying to protect themselves from getting “obliterated” by going through her computer files, the fact still stood that they were going through the belongings of a cute teenage girl. Also, during their venture to the Guild, the few of the group that survived thus far almost fell into a hole and to the demise. The only thing keeping them from falling was Yuri holding them all up. To get out of this, they had to climb up the chain of bodies, which included Yuri’s. Otonashi hesitated, blushed, and even protested a bit once he realized how awkward it would be, even asking, “Where am I supposed to hold on to?!”

Even with him being rather cautious and hesitant, Otonashi isn’t a complete stickler for the rules. This is shown especially as the story progresses and he regains his memories of his life and death, giving him a whole new perspective on life. Even before then, however, he’s still shown to have tendencies to not be as cautious around his friends—or rather, when it comes to things related to helping those dear to him. Being a cancer patient, his sister was always stuck in the hospital. She wanted to go out at least once during Christmas though, so Otonashi promised to take her to see the decorations and lights on the tree down the street. He ignored the doctor’s rejection to his request to take her out and snuck her out anyway. Adding onto this, their school in the afterlife did not allow for students to go to the lake, where a giant fish was said to have been. Once again, Otonashi ignored this and dragged Kanade along to go fishing with the SSS crew. He just wanted for her—as well as his sister—to have fun, despite the rules. (Screw the rules, I have a fishing rod.)

One of the biggest thoughts that come to Otonashi’s mind is his purpose in life. While he and his sister were alive, he thought that he had no purpose, and so he lived with great antipathy and secluded himself from the world (except for his sister, of course). He lived to work and he worked to eat and live even more. Once she passed away, he realized what his purpose was, as well as the fact that it was now gone. He believed that he was living for his sister and now that she was gone, he had nothing. However, upon seeing a young girl thanking a nurse in the street, he came to the realization that he had a bigger purpose in life, which was to help those around him in general. And so he set forth and began studying medicine. It’s just a topic that he had often questioned, though now, especially in the afterlife, he believes that he has finally found what it truly was.

Strengths:Otonashi can easily hold himself up in a fight, especially with the fact that he knows how to wield a gun (and even a sniper rifle). He’s even been seen shooting an enemy from behind without looking at all. Aside from that though, he could probably fend for himself without a weapon too.

He’s pretty intelligent, really. He used to be incredibly lazy and not put his mental potential to use at all, as he never studied or even paid attention in school (assuming that he actually didn’t skip all the time). After his sister’s death he began attending medical school though, which obviously requires a lot of intelligence. On top of that, while taking exams with the rest of the SSS, he mentioned how a physics test they were taking was easy.

Adding on to that, since he was able to study medicine and even learn how to wield a gun so quickly, he catches on and learns things rapidly and rather easily.

Weaknesses:Since he’s human, Otonashi is still susceptible to the same things that any other person would be to. Illness, injuries, starvation and death, he can (and has been) affected by it all.

With his occasional tendencies to not be clingy to the rules, he can get himself or even others into trouble sometimes. For example, his sister probably could have lived for at least a little longer had it not been for the fact that he snuck her out of the hospital during a time when the doctors said she was too sick to leave. He had also gotten Kanade into trouble with Naoi—whom had taken over her position as student council president—by taking her to eat when it was not time for lunch at school.

Otonashi has a habit of underestimating people, as well as trusting them easily. He approached Kanade, whom he saw as being just a normal and small girl, despite the warnings given to him about her being extremely dangerous. …And so she stabbed him right in the chest. He also doesn’t really take his one-sided rivalry with Noda seriously, and even thought that he was kidding when he asked Otonashi if he wanted to die. Of course, he wasn’t kidding. …And so he died once again in the first seven minutes of the first episode. Or rather, over a hundred more times.

Samples

First Person:[The feed clicks on.]I’m guessing this thing records stuff… Well, here’s hoping someone hears this. Hey, is anyone out there? Yuri? Hinata? […] Kanade? Anyone? I just woke up at this beach over here and have no idea where I am. …Wait, since when was there a beach here, anyway?! I know we have that lake, but a beach…?

…And man, my back’s killing me… I don’t remember anything happening that could cause that though… [Rubbing his back a bit, then flinching.] --H-hey, are these… wings? What’s going on? [A sigh.] Well, guess I’ll find out soon enough. Man am I confused or what… I hope this isn’t some sort of joke or something. [That would not be cool. 8| And then the feed clicks off.]

Third Person:“Where am I…? What happened…?”

They were the same words he had said upon arriving in the afterlife. Otonashi laid there in the sand, staring straight up at the sky. It was bright. Really bright. Then again, it could have just been because his eyes were closed for what seemed like an eternity. Of course, that’s to be expected of someone who’s, well… <i>dead.</i>

Blinking a few times, he covered his forehead with his arm to shade his eyes from the glaring sunlight. At least that way it’d be easier to adapt to the sudden light exposure. As far as being awake right now though? That could take some getting used to. With that, he really had no intentions of getting up just yet. After all, he could just be dreaming, right? It sure seemed like it, at least. The atmosphere just felt way too surreal for it to be real. Maybe it’s heaven? Yeah, maybe. The sand’s so soft, and those crashing waves he hears are so calming.

…Wait, sand? Waves? Is this a beach? Crap, did he really turn into a barnacle like Yuri and the rest of the SSS had warned him from the beginning?! Otonashi immediately jumped up into a sitting position, frantically flailing his hands through his hair, arms, chest… Okay, clearly someone stole his shirt, but right now he really doesn’t care. What he does care about is the fact that he is not a barnacle. That is, unless barnacles have full heads of hair and human skin, but that’s probably not the case. He let out a sigh of relief, which was abruptly interrupted by the sudden tingling and sharp pain he felt on his back. It didn’t take much effort for his arm to find the source of the sensation, either.

“Wings,” he murmured with wide eyes, more as a statement than a question. If anything, he really wasn’t all that surprised. After all, his first guess <i>was</i> that he had safely passed on (not as a barnacle) and had been brought to heaven. Yeah, that’s exactly what’s going on. It has to be. He had obviously fulfilled his dream somewhere during the events of him trying to help Yui fulfill hers. Except, he doesn’t remember such an even happening. Regardless, he was way too tired to be thinking about this right now, and his back was aching way too much. With a sigh, he flopped back down to lay in the sand, mumbling, “What the hell is going on…”